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Nation & World Though not yet the nominee, Gore raises money for general election by Jonathan Salant (Associated Press r Washington—Vice President A1 Gore is raising millions of dollars for a gener al election he’s not assured of running in, a practice that federal regulators are try ing to stop. Gore raised $2 million through June 30 for a special type of legal fund used by presidential nominees. This fund al lows him to solicit a second contribution of $ 1,000 from supporters limited to giv ing a maximum of $1,000 to Gore’s Democratic primary campaign. It also al lows him to bill half of the fund-raising costs to his general election fund rather than his campaign account for the pres idential primaries, which has spending limits. “It is a legal way of allocating certain expenditures to that account rather than crediting those expenditures against his overall spending limit,” said Herbert Alexander, professor emeritus of politi cal science at the University of Southern California. Previous candidates have used these general election funds to skirt federal lim its on spending during the primaries. That was one reason the Federal Election Com mission cited last month when it voted to ban fund raising for the general elec tion account until June 1 of a presiden tial election year. The change has not taken effect, mean ing Gore can continue to seek contribu tions for the 2000 general election. Con gress also could block the change. “We believe A1 Gore will be the De mocratic Party nomiliee and the partic ipant in the general election,” Gore cam paign spokeswoman Kiki Moore said. If he doesn’t win the nomination, FCC mles require that the money be refunded to the donors. Gore’s opponent for the Democrat ic nomination, former Sen. Bill Bradley, hasn’t set up a general election ac count. “The Bradley campaign is not rais ing general election accounting money or looking for other so-called legal loop holes to exploit during this campaign,” spokeswoman Anita Dunn said. Months before receiving the 1996 Republican presidential nomination, Bob Dole reached into his general election fund to pay for campaign events and staff salaries and travel. The move helped keep him on the campaign trail when his pri mary campaign had spent virtually all it • could under federal law. FEC auditors later said Dole’s gen eral election fund improperly spent $377,186 that should have been paid for by his primary campaign. That was one of the issues raised when the commission voted to require Dole’s primary and gen eral election campaigns to repay $3.7 mil lion. In 1992, the TEC said Bill Clinton’s primary campaign could borrow money from his general election fund while wait ing for some reimbursements it was due. The Clinton-Gore campaign also raised general election money early for the 1996 race. Candidates must agree to spending limits if they accept partial federal fund ing of their primary campaigns. In the general election, candidates can receive full federal funding for their campaigns by agreeing not to raise any private mon ey, except to pay the costs of complying with the election rules. For this, they set up the special legal funds. Individual con tributions are limited to $1,000, just as they are for primary and congressional campaigns. Some have expressed concern that Gore, feeing a well-financed primary chal lenge from Bradley, could push up against the spending limits — expected to be around $40 million—next spring. That’s what happened to Dole. Meanwhile, Republican front-runner George W. Bush, who isn’t accepting fed eral funds for the primaries, can spend as much money as he can raise, unencum bered by spending limits. Bush had $30 million in the bank as of June 30. Gore had $9.4 million, Bradley $7.5 million. Gore recently used a single fund-rais ing letter to make a plea for donations to both of his funds. Seeking money for the general election fund, the letter said that if his primary campaign has to cover le gal costs, “we have less to invest in the necessary political work necessary to en sure victory in 2000.” Only three other presidential candi dates — Republicans Bush, John McCain and Dan Quayle—have set up these spe cial accounts so far, FEC records show. Bush raised $37,410 through June 30 and Quayle collected $4,117, but both candidates simply accepted excess mon ey from donors who exceeded the $ 1,000 contribution limit to their primary campaigns. McCain’s fund raised noth ing. Doll from page 6 “I could not believe that anybody with a pulse and a conscience could make a decision to put this in a catalog that’s marketed to children,” Carpenter told The Denver Post. Drummond said the dolls were se lected for the catalog long before the shootings. She said 15 of the action fig ures were sold before the item was pulled. Customers who now call for the doll will be told it’s unavailable. “I think some people who collect these things or want it will be disap pointed,” Drummond said. “But we just didn’t think it was appropriate this year.” The toy, called The Villain, is made by -21st Century Toys Inc., based in Alameda, Calif. Scott Allen, vice president of the company, said he anticipated the com parisons after the Columbine shooting but could do nothing to stop production of the Sears catalog. “The simple premise of the toy line was cops and robbers. It had nothing to do with promoting violence or hatred,” Allen said today. “It was just an unfor tunate coincidence for us that those id iots at Columbine were wearing trench coats.” Allen said the doll is being redesigned, including removing the trench coat. Earthquake from page 6 several destroyed rooms. A woman pulled from the building urged rescuers to keep looking for survivors. “Hurry, go rescue people. They’re in there. They’re inside,’’said the uniden tified woman, who was dressed in street clothes and didn’t appear to be se riously injured “I lived on the ninth floor, but now it’s the fourth floor.” Meanwhile, 50 people were injured when a 12-stoiy apartment building col lapsed in the Taipei suburb ofHsinchuang. An estimated 100 others were trapped in the building, which collapsed onto a neighboring five-story structure. But Taipei, with a 2.7 million popu lation, was spared much of the damage. - The government called off work and school across the island, leaving the cap ital’s normally congested streets rela tively empty. President Lee Teng-hui flew by he licopter to Taichung to direct rescue work, while Vice President Lien Chan went to Nantou. Tuesday’s quake was Taiwan’s worst since a 7.4 magnitude temblor hit the island in 1935, killing 3,276 people. Taiwan is hit by dozens of quakes each year, but most are centered east of the is land and rarely cause damage. 1 1,712 killed in Taiwan quake The deadly earth quake that struck Taiwan on Tuesday morning left the island nation off the coast of mainland China devastated. The quake wrecked buildings in the nation’s capital of Taipei, even though the city is 90 miles from the epicenter. %;p44SJ3 'J AS ' y> Brad Walters Graphics editor Get it 3 times a week! O,(5amccock DEPRESSION If you have 3 or more of these symptoms, you may be eligible for this confidential, free research study offering medical supervision, physical exams, lab tests, EKGs and investigational medications. 1-800-369-547Z STUDY BEING CONDUCTED IN DOWNTOWN COLUMBIA • Losing interest in doing the things you used to enjoy • Feeling worthless or guilty • Decreased energy • Feeling down or blue • Trouble sleeping/ sleeping too much • Having trouble concentrating • Having difficulty making decisions • Repeated thoughts of death or dying • Losing or gaining weight • Crying spells MUSC MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA FDA approves new antibiotic by Lauren Neergaard Associated Press Washington — The government Tuesday approved a long-needed new weapon against the growing threat of drug-resistant bacteria: Synercid, the first alternative in 30 years to the antibiotic of last resort* The new drug comes at a critical time, as doctors are warning that more and more germs are developing resistance to that “silver bullet” antibiotic, vancomycin. Indeed, the need was so great that the Food and Drug Administration for the past year has allowed hundreds of patients at risk of death from drug-resistant germs to be treated with Synercid under a spe cial emergency program, while the agency decided whether the drug was safe and effective enough for broad sale. Today, the FDA approved Synercid to treat vancomycin-resistant entero coccal infections, a life-threatening in fection that strikes thousands of hospital patients. One recent study estimated as many as 52 percent of enterococcal infec tions are now vancomycin-resistant, mak ing them difficult if not impossible to treat. But doctors must do the proper lab oratory testing before prescribing Syn ercid to make sure patients’ infections are caused by the most deadly type of en terococcus — called E. faecium, the FDA stressed. Synercid works well against E. faecium, but isn’t very effective against a related and more common enterococ cal infection that other antibiotics still can cure, the FDA said. The FDA also approved Synercid to treat certain complicated skin infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus bacte ria, commonly known as staph infections, or by the germ Streptococcus pyogenes. But it isn’t a miracle drug. Synercid doesn’t work as well as existing antibi otics for some infections, scientists have stressed, and because bacteria evolve rapidly, Synercid resistance eventually will appear, too. “The drug should be used judi ciously ... because for many patients, it will be a drug of last resort, and we’d like to protect it for as long as possible,” FD\ antibiotics chief Dr. Sandra Kweder said. Synercid was studied in more than 2,000 patients, and its overall effective ness at fighting off infection was 52 percent, the FDA said. The most frequently reported side ef fects were muscle and joint pain, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and rash. Synercid, an intravenous antibiotic, will be available for doctors to prescribe beginning Oct. 1. Synercid, manufactured by Rhone Poulenc Rorer, is the first in a new class of antibiotics called streptogamins to be sold in the United States, and it appears to work by dealing bacteria a one-two punch. It is a combination of two drugs, quin upristin and dalfopristin, that inhibit two different methods of bacterial protein synthesis. That combination effect makes the chemicals 16 times more potent to gether than either molecule alone, the company says. Trump, Buchanan eye Reform Party by Shannon McCaffrey Associated Press Washington — He’s got the money. He appeals to women. And with his moniker splashed in gold across sky-high build ings, Donald Trump has the name ID for a presidential run. In the other comer in this most unlikely of matchups is Pat Buchanan, the family values conservative who has made run ning for president something of a moral crusade every four years. It’s a slugfest worthy of one of Trump’s casinos. “Both of these guys are showmen. They like the attention ... and they’re both smart. I wouldn’t want to get in their way,” political analyst Maurice Carroll said. While Buchanan flirts with defecting to the Reform Party to run for president, saying he’s feeling abandoned by a GOP that’s too close to the center, Trump has a top aide in Wash ington researching the cost and feasibility of getting on the 29 state and District of Columbia ballots that don’t have perma nent spots for Reform Party candidates. Trump has the Reform Party’s highest-elected official, Min nesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, urging him to run. Buchanan has Republicans praying he won’t or he might take conservative votes from the GOP to the benefit of Democrats. This weekend, Trump challenged Buchanan’s provocative comments on Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Third Reich like a can didate-in-waiting. Buchanan aigues in a new book that Hitler wasn’t a di rect threat to the United States after 1940. But is Trump re ally thinking of run ning for president? He might have to work at his populist touch. In his biogra _ . TUn Art of the Comeback,” The Donald describes how he loathes shaking hands, because hands are crawling with germs. Now picture The Donald working a campaign rope line of your average Americans or kissing babies. And there’s his flamboyant and well-documented person al life. Since divorcing Marla Maples, the woman who ended his first marriage to Ivana, Trump appears in gossip pages with a rotating array of gorgeous models on his arm. Buchanan’s press clippings, in which he rails against abor tion, homosexuality and premarital sex, are equally contro versial. ‘Both of these guys [Trump and Buchanan] are showmen. 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